Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-11-03
SAN BERNARDIN0.
A City Located in a Valley
of Vast Wealth.
RICH SOIL AND PURE WATER.
A Town Surrounded by Vast Posi-
bilities of Production, the Gen.
ter of an Enormous Trade.
RICH SOIL AND PURE WATER.

ter of an Enormous Trade.
The city of San Bernardino is beau.
'tifully situated in a great, rich natu-
raj amphitheatre, surrounded by
mountains on the north and east, the
loftiest peaks Of the Sierra Madre,
which here rise from 6000 to 10000
feet in height, forming a glorious back
ground Of majestic grandeur. In the
center of this valley Of about loo
square miles sits the queenly city
Of San Bernardino, embowered in
beautiful shade trees Of every kind
that grow in the temperate and semi
tropic belts Of the earth. The streets
are broad and straight, bordered
with trees and watered by artesian
wells that send rivulets along the high
ways to cleanse them from all impuri-
ty. The lofty eucalyptus, the beauti-
ful pepper tree, the grand and robust
cottonwood, the poplar, with its trem-
ulous leaves, the cypress, the sill
ver-barked walnut, the Usage orange
and the deep green pine tree of the
mountains, form an abundant luxury
of shade in which the song-birds sing
night and day, and the children play
at monday with no fear of summer
heat. while the fountains send out a
low murmur continually and furnish
life and wondrous growth to the
hedgerows and the everblooming
flowers that perfume the air with
fragrance and charm the eye With
brilliant beauty. The rose vines of
San Bernardino are perpetual, and
prodigal in their beauty and fragrance,
and vie with the grape vine in cover
ing arbors and porches.
The great mining country over the
mountains yields steady stream of
silver and the miners find in San Ber-
nardino base Of supplies that makes
the town continually active and a
fine place for merchants and artizans
in the manufacture of mining tools.
The towns on the mesas north of
San Bernardino are prospering in a
most remarkable manner, and furnish
u large volume of business to the city.
As San Bernardino is the county seat
of the greatest county in California, it
attracts attention and business from
an area of 23,400 square miles, equal
to half the area of the State of New
York, and about as large as each OF q
dozen States in the Union. There are
more than 200 silver mine., in the
county, and vast mines of copper and
iron of wondrous wealth. IL and
around the city are about 500 flow
ing wells, that are all located on
soil of great fertility and depth.
In fact the water supply is ten times
as much as is needed for cultivation
and domestic use, and the dry lands
below, in and around Riverside, are
drawing ample supplies from the
fountains Of wealth.
Besides the flowing wells, the
Santa Ana River, Warm Greek Lytle
Greek, City Creek, and Mill Creek
furnish an immense volume of water.
But as if this were not enough the
grand
BEAR VALLEY RESERVOIR,
which is an inland lake in the Sierra
Madre, made by building dam OF
solid masonry across the cafion at the
mouth of Bear Valley three hundred
feet long and sixty feet high, that re-
tains the drainage ofsixty square miles
ut a height of 5000 feet, where the
rains are copious and the SHOWS fall
deem cOmplete the Dicture.
This grand mountain lake is now
harnessed to the uses ofmankind, and
gives q permanent water supply of
about 1000, ,000, 900 gallons. No town
in California is SO well watered as San
Bernardaino.
The city is prospering, and is al
ready rich. New buildings Of mas
sive and imposing character are rising
on every side. The old boundaries Of
a mile square have been burst open on
every side, and handsome residences
are springing up beyond the old con-
fines OF the pueblo. The streets lead
north, south, east and west, and are
821a feet in width, crossing each other
at right angles at distance of 800
feet, and are bordered with shade trees.
The new brick county hospital on
Third street is q grand monument to
the liberality Of the people, and the
noble edifce, the Stewart Hotel, now
being completed, is tho finest hotel
building in Southern California. The
Anderson and Harris block, now ap-
preaching completion, is one of the
largest and finest business blocks west
of the Mississippi river. 1t is made
of pressed brick and terra Gotta, and
is an ornament to that prosperous
and goodly city. The town is well
supplied with electric lights; besides it
has the light of three daily news
papers, the Courier, Inder and Times,
all devoted to the interests of that
imperial county, with no croakers on
their several stats. The city is well
supplied with railways, having a
fine street railway, a motor rail
way to Cotton, the California
Southern leading to San Diego on the
south and Kansas City on the east,
with branch to Los Angeles and
Port Ballona and another to Riverside
and Santa Ana, while a new branch
Of the Santa FG system is being built
to Lugonia and Redlands. A new
court house will have to be erected to
accommodate the increasing business
Of city and county.
The city has three banks, two Touring
mills, several lumber yards, supplied
with redwood and local mountain
pine and cedar; two wineries. two
breweries, churches for all denomina.
tions, fine schoolhouses, an opera
house and an academy, half dozen
hotels, q fine machine shop and plan
ing and lumber manufacturing estab
lishment, and spacious stores filled
with all manner of merchandise
Beautiful villas, surrounded by lawns
trees and flowers, are seen in al
directions in the, suburbs, while
the high mesa between tht
city and the mountains is the natu
raj hArna nf rsfr,re, f,,,,;te, &c all hin II a